Christ

Well, on the last day of Unleavened Bread, anytime we're at the end of something, I hope we take the time to think back over the last week, the events that we've been through. I do think if we review the days of Unleavened Bread, all of us would say we know more about God's plan today than we did at the time this fee started. We probably know more about ourselves, too, if we've kept the days the way God wanted to, if we've beseeched Him ahead of time to show us our sins, what leavening needs to be put out of our minds, what leavening needs to be put out of our lives. And there's probably a lot of things that we know about ourselves that we're not too happy about. But, you know, now we know that with God's power, with His Holy Spirit, those things and that leavening can be put out. Don't let any feast that you observe go by without changing you in some way. It should help you to understand God more and your role in His plan more. You know, at the beginning of these holy days, we read a lot of verses as God brought Israel out of Egypt. And one of the words that we read over and over again was, Remember. And as we move out of the days of Unleavened Bread at sunset tonight, but I guess this year we kind of have an extra day of Unleavened Bread, don't we? Since the Sabbath starts tonight. But as we move out of the days of Unleavened Bread, remember. Remember the lessons you learned. Remember what God has done. He told the Israelites, when you keep these days, remember what I did for you. Remember who you were and where you were in Egypt.

We can remember who we were before God called us, where we were going. Remember, He said, as we ate the Unleavened Bread, we read the verses, you know, that when we eat it, think of it as a sign on your hand that everything you do, you do in accordance with God's will and God's law. Keep it as a memorial between your eyes when you eat that Unleavened Bread.

So that His law is written in your mind and that it is the way and guides what you think, what you do, how you behave.

And then He also said, when you eat that Unleavened Bread, feel or think that His law is in your mouth. What you speak, you're eating that bread and you're making it part of you so that over the course of the time that God is working with us, preparing us, getting us ready, we become more and more like Him. And as we eat that bread of Him, we become more like Him.

And when He looks at us, He recognizes us more as His people.

At Passover, we remembered and we commemorated Jesus Christ's death.

Momentous occasion, Jesus, the very Son of God, who was there, who created the world, who was God of the Old Testament, gave up that position to come down and be a man and to live a perfect life as a man so that He could die and pay the penalty for our sins.

And in John 17, verse 5, when He was praying that last prayer that's recorded before He ascended, He said, Father, glorify Me with the glory I had with you before the world was.

He had accomplished or was about to accomplish the mission that He came for. And as we eat that unleavened bread on Passover, we remember His body, broken, beaten for us.

And Paul said, every time you eat that, or Christ said, do this in remembrance of Me. When we drank the wine, signifying His shed blood, Christ said, do this in remembrance of Me.

Remember it. Think about it. And keep it ever before you.

And just because the days of unleavened bread are over doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about those things. Those should always be in front of us. Because without Christ, dramatically, in the most momentous days of unleavened bread and Passovers in history, when He took Israel out of Egypt in the Old Testament, and when He commemorated or when He set the standards, just put the new rituals in for the New Testament Passover and was killed for us, He was at the center of it all.

He was right there. There would have been no deliverance for Israel without Jesus Christ.

There's no deliverance for us without Jesus Christ.

He's at the center of this Holy Day, and forever and ever and ever, these days, represent God's first step in His plan. Christ took the first step by offering His life for us. Now it's our responsibility, as we've pictured the last few days, to put sin out, but also importantly, to put the unleavened bread in, to be changing our lives, letting God take us through the purification process of our lives, so that when His Son returns, we're ready. We're ready to assume the roles and responsibilities that He has for us.

Eat the unleavened bread every day of your life. That's what these days mean. Put it in every day of your life.

You know, a momentous occasion I'm not going to dwell on this morning, but turn with me over to Exodus 14, because it's understood that on this last day of unleavened bread, a momentous occasion was going on with the Old Testament nation of Israel.

They had been brought out of Egypt by God. They had been wandering around for a few days, and then Pharaoh's heart was hardened again, and he decided he was going to go after the Israelites. And he pursued them. And as they were camped by the Red Sea, they looked, and there was that army. And they panicked. You remember, and we can put ourselves in that picture, what it would be like.

You brought us out, and now they complained to Moses. Now you brought us out just once. So Pharaoh can slaughter us by the sea, but they didn't know what God was capable of. They didn't believe that he could finally deliver them. Verse 13 of Exodus 14, Strong message for them and a strong message for us. Always, always believe God. Believe that when he brought you out of your Egypt, he intended to deliver you into his Promised Land. Things may come. Times of terror and tribulation may come. Don't panic. We know that God's will is at hand and that his will will be done. Don't be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord, he says, will fight for you. And he'll fight for us. There will come times when we have to believe him. Step back, stand still, and let him fight the battles. And he will, just like he did. For the Israelites, as many of you know, he's done in your lives already and you've seen it. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Get up and go. Just move forward. Keep your eyes on the goal. Don't look back. Look forward to what God has called you to. You keep marching in that direction and let God take care of all the chaos and all the threats and all the persecution or tribulation that you may be going through. You keep your eyes on the goal. March forward. And in the most improbable thing that none of them could imagine, God opened that Red Sea. Because God doesn't think the way we think. He doesn't see any of the physical universe or us as a limitation. We need to realize our God has no limits. He can do whatever it takes to deliver us, and he will. If we repent, if we believe, if we allow him to continue the purification process in us, and if we look forward and with all our heart we are seeking the kingdom of God, that's what he called us for. To be looking toward that and to be moving and marching toward that. And they marched through that Red Sea. And after they marched through, the sea closed in on the Egyptians. And the children of Israel didn't have to worry anymore about the Egyptians coming after them. God had won the final battle over them. They had their own things that they had to deal with as they were in the wilderness. But God delivered Israel from Egypt, and Egypt was no longer a threat after they passed through the Red Sea.

You know, as we continue to walk with God, as we continue to eat the unleavened bread, every day the rest of our lives, God's going to deliver us totally out of this world. When he returns, this world will be no more. A new world will be set up. A new world that lives by his laws, that is guided by his spirit, that's governed by him and the people that he has prepared during this course of time that will serve as kings and priests.

This world will be gone. Satan will be bound. Look forward to that time. Look forward to that time as we keep these days of unleavened bread, and as we keep the principles and the spiritual aspects of these days every day the rest of our lives. So, momentous, great first step to God's plan. A lot happened during the days of unleavened bread.

A lot happened to Israel back in the time 3500 years ago. A lot happened during that week of Passover when Jesus was alive. A lot happened this week in the churches in Florida. And a lot happened in yours and my life. Keep the lessons of the days of unleavened bread fresh. Don't let them die and don't let them disappear as the sun sets tonight.

And always remember what that first step is, because forever the days of unleavened bread mean putting sin out and putting the unleavened bread in. During that week of unleavened bread when Christ was crucified, something else significant happened. Something else significant happened that we don't talk about too much. Christ prophesied that it would happen. Turn with me back to John 14 and verse 19. Last Sabbath I closed with this verse. As Christ was talking to his disciples, his apostles there on that last evening before he was arrested, he told them many things and he said they wouldn't understand many of them.

And there were more. It says that he didn't tell them because they couldn't bear them now. But in chapter 14 and verse 19, he tells them a little while longer and the world will see me no more. But you'll see me. Because I live, you will live also. Because I live, you'll live also. And when he said those words, it went right over their heads. They didn't know what he was talking about.

But he prophesied to them many times that he would be crucified or killed and that he would be raised the third day. But they just didn't get it. Let's go back to Matthew here for a minute. Matthew 12. Matthew 12 and in verse 39, as he's speaking with the Pharisees, they're looking for a sign, as they often did.

And he answered in verse 39 of Matthew 12 and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. One sign would be given that he's the Messiah. And it wasn't going to happen while he was alive.

It was a sign that they were going to have to see after the fact. They didn't get it. The world doesn't get it. Today, the world thinks one day and two nights equals three days and three nights. It doesn't add up. One sign he gave. And they never thought about that again. Or maybe they thought about it, but they hardened their hearts and they weren't going to pay attention to it. Over in chapter 26 of Matthew, Matthew 26, Christ says to his disciples, and this is in the last week before that final Passover of his, you know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

It seems like pretty clear language. Matthew, when he wrote that, may have then understood what Christ was talking about, but he told them that. Doesn't seem like the apostles and the disciples understood it. Over in Luke 18.

And verse 31, it says, He took the twelve, the twelve apostles aside and said to them, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They'll scourge him and kill him. And the third day he will rise again.

He told them. He prophesied to them what would happen. But you know, as they were going through all that, the apostles, as they saw Christ arrested, as they watched him being mocked and going through a trial that was illegal and that really never was able to convict him of anything, as they watched him spit upon, as they watched him crucified, as they watched him die, they didn't get it. It didn't dawn on them. He told us this was going to happen. And you see him die. And then they lay him in the tomb right before the sunset of the first day of Unleavened Bread, the fifteenth of Abib. And then if you read through the Scriptures, you see that on the Friday, Thursday being the first Holy Day, Martha and Mary come out and they look at the tomb and they're preparing the spices that they're going to come and anoint him. But you don't see or sense any kind of recognition on their part. This is exactly what he said was going to happen. It's like it just went right over their head. And even later in the week, when he's resurrected, they didn't believe it. They didn't get it.

Let's go over to Luke 24.

Because exactly as Jesus Christ prophesied, he would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And he would be resurrected. And it happened on the Sabbath during the time of Unleavened Bread of that year. In verse 6 of Luke 24, the angel says to them, cutting into a thought here, He's not here, speaking of Christ, but He's risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

When the angel said that, they remembered, it says. Then they remembered His words. Then they had the aha moment. Then those prophecies that they heard made a great deal of sense to them. Then they could see that what Christ said would happen is exactly what happened.

It's a lesson for us, because God's given us a lot of prophecies. We can read through Revelation. We can read through Isaiah, Zechariah, the minor prophets. And there's a lot of prophecies in there about a lot of things. And God's revealed a lot of what will happen to us. And as we live in a world today, we see a lot of those things happening that we've heard about. If we've been in the church for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, we see them happening right before our very eyes.

But in some cases, there's things we don't know. And in some cases, things have been fulfilled, and we don't recognize it until after the fact. And so God doesn't want us, or God doesn't always let us know what's going to happen exactly the way it's going to happen before it does. And there's a reason for that. The apostles didn't understand that momentous event. Even when Christ told them, this is happening, they didn't get it.

Let's go back to John 14.

John 14 and verse 27.

In the same conversation with them that we read in verse 19 before, he says, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.

And he says, don't let your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid.

He knew what was coming. He knew they didn't understand what was going to come, and he's telling them, don't let it be troubled. Don't be afraid. You've heard me say to you, I'm going away, and coming back to you. If you loved me, you'd be rejoiced. He said, because I said, I'm going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I've told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.

When the apostles heard that angel say that, after the fact, they believed. They believed with all their heart and all their mind. When we see prophecy fulfilled, and sometimes we don't see it coming, we believe. We know and we understand God is in charge. We may not understand it, but we can have absolute faith in Him that what He says is going to happen is absolutely going to happen. And we may not know every step. We may not know every wrinkle or every turn that it takes. But we can be absolutely sure that what He says in His Word, the unleavened Word of God that you have sitting in your laps before you, what He says is going to happen is absolutely going to happen. And we have to believe it. And if we don't believe it, then we're not going to be part of His Kingdom. We absolutely have to believe. Repent, Christ said, and believe the Gospel. Believe in Him. Have that faith. And so, in the middle of that days of unleavened bread, something unusual happened.

But let's go back one more time in Matthew.

Many times, as Christ was talking with the disciples and the words that we read today as His disciples, He talks about harvests. He talks about sowing seed. He talks about what is going on in the world. And He compares it to crops and things that are growing. In chapter 9, verse 36, it says, When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

And He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

I don't know that the disciples knew what He was talking about. We understand what He's talking about.

But He was looking and comparing what God was going to work with a harvest.

And that at a future time, God would be harvesting people.

Back in the Old Testament, when we read about the Holy Days, there was an offering that had to do with a harvest. Turn with me back to Leviticus 23.

Chapter 23, of course, is where God's Holy Days are listed. It begins in verse 2 and 3 there with the Sabbath day.

And then in verse 5, it says, On the fourteenth day of the first month of twilight is the Lord's Passover. We observed it at that time.

On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. We're on the last day of that, as it's mentioned in verse 8.

The seventh day, the last sentence there, shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. And that's where we are today.

In verse 9, there's a series of verses.

In the talk about an event that occurred back in ancient Israel. Verse 9, it says, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give to you. So it wasn't anything that they were doing then. It was something that when they came into the land God was giving them, the land that He had promised them. And you reap its harvest. You shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

And He'll wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf on the day after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it.

So the commentaries, the Hebrew scholars all agree, that during the feast, during the Sabbath that occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or the Days of Unleavened Bread, this ceremony took place. And it wasn't a commanded assembly. Not everyone attended it. It was the priests who did this.

And you can research through this, through many of the things that are on the Internet, and through the Jewish history, and even Josephus, to see what happened on this time during this wave-sheaf offering.

Commonly believed is that as the sun was setting on the Sabbath of that time, the priests would go out, and they would have barley that had grown. And so they would cut the barley as the Sabbath ended, and as the first day of the week began. And they would hold that barley over, and then the next morning, the first day of the week, they would come before God. And it says, wave, and we see the word wave, and we think they wave it before him, but it really means elevate.

That they would take that first fruit, the first harvest, the first cut of the harvest there in Jerusalem at that time, and they would elevate it before God as an offering. And they would present it to him as the first fruit.

And for them, it was a meaningful ceremony, but they had no idea what they were doing. But it was something they went through each year as they elevated that fruit to God, or that first fruit of the barley, and they said, accept it. And it was to be accepted by God, an offering to him first.

And as we read through the verses here, in verse 14, it says, You shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh grain, until the same day that you brought an offering to your God.

No other harvest could be done in Israel until that first fruit, the first of the first fruits, was offered to God and presented to him. And once it was accepted by him, then the rest of the harvest of the first fruits could begin. But until that first fruit was given to him and offered to him, it couldn't be.

In verse 12, it says, You shall offer on that day, the day of the priests. Again, not a holy day. Nowhere is this commanded to be celebrated, a part of what happened during the days of Unleavened Bread.

And only the priests were there. You shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. And so they did. You know what that lamb without blemish represents, right? Jesus Christ. A male without blemish. Burn it up. It's a total burnt offering to God. Verse 13, its grain offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet aroma. And its drink offering shall be of wine.

You know the wine, right? The wine. Just like the wine we took at Passover, that represents God shed blood. The grain offering before that would be the unleavened bread that we took.

So God had all these symbols there in this ritual that was kept on the first day, or the day after the Sabbath that occurred during the days of Unleavened Bread. And the barley that they cut had to be ready. And there's a whole lot more we can talk about and a whole lot more details, if you want, we can discuss. But that's what the gist of that ceremony was.

An offering of the first of the first fruits.

Come with me over to John.

John 20.

We know that Christ died on the Wednesday before the first holy day of Unleavened Bread. He was laid into the heart of the earth, into His grave, right before sunset at the beginning of that first holy day.

He was in the heart of the earth Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and resurrected as exactly 72 hours after He was put into that tomb.

Let's read through John 20. On the first day of the week, that would be what we would say early on a Sunday morning, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early. She was going there to prepare. There had been two Sabbaths in a three-day period. She was going there to anoint His body and to do all these things that they did back then. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early when it was still dark. This was before sunrise, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. And she ran and came to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they laid Him.

Never dawned on her that He'd been resurrected. Peter, therefore, went out, and the other disciple, who was John, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths flying there. Yet He didn't go in. So they saw an amazing sight as they looked into that tomb, because Christ was wrapped in strips of linen. Not just a shroud put over Him, but strips of linen, much like you might wrap, I don't know, something with, I hate to say it, masking tape. But these were shrouds of linen that were wrapped about Him, and then a sheet was put over His head. And that was the custom of the Jews back then, where they laid someone into a tomb. So when John looked in, what he saw was just these linen strips laying there. And they had seen what He looked like when He went there, but these strips were laying there. It was as if the body, the physical body, was just gone. The strips were still there, but the body was gone. Verse 6, Simon Peter came, following Him. He went into the tomb, and He saw the linen cloths just lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, John, who came to the tomb first, went in also. And He saw, and He believed. He knew what had happened. He believed that Christ lived again. For as yet they didn't know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. They didn't understand it yet. But He believed. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And when she did, when she was all by herself there, when they went away, she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they've taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they've laid Him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and she didn't know it was Him.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said, Sir, if you've carried Him away, tell me where you've laid Him, and I will take Him away.

She didn't recognize Him by face, but when He said to her, Mary, she turned and said to Him, Rabonie, which is a say teacher.

She recognized His voice.

And she turned to Him, and Jesus said to her, because you can imagine what she thought, and what she wanted to do at that time. Jesus said to her, Don't cling to me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, or my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.

He told them that in John 14, that He would go to His Father, and He would come back. He told them, Because I live, you will live.

He told them this in the festival, that forever pictures putting sin out of our lives and putting the unleavened bread in it. The unleavened bread of life.

So we have Christ in the morning on the first day of the week.

We know that He was resurrected as the sun set on Sabbath, exactly 72 hours after He was laid in the heart of the earth.

And we have Him speaking to Mary. And He tells Mary, Go tell your brethren, I am going to my Father. Don't touch me. Don't cling to me now. I am going to Him, and I am going to my God and your God.

Now we compare that to the ritual in Leviticus 23 that was never commanded to be celebrated and is not to be celebrated today. Because the meaning of the days of unleavened bread is you put sin out and you keep it out. That's the furt and put the unleavened bread in. That's the meaning of the days. But in these days is life.

And during these days of unleavened bread, this happened. And during the days of unleavened bread in the Old Testament time, there was this ritual that the first fruits were presented to God first. And nothing could happen with the rest of the harvest of the first fruits until that first of the first fruits had been accepted. Nothing else could happen. Nothing could happen with any first fruit until Jesus Christ died and until Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Nothing could happen. If He had failed in that mission, none of us would be here.

But the rest of the first fruits couldn't be harvested until the first of the first fruits were accepted.

The first, when the priests in the Old Testament times were offering or waving or elevating this to God, they say it happened between 9 and 12 and most of the 9 and noon. And most of the commentaries say it was at 9 o'clock is what it was.

Jesus Christ was resurrected on Sabbath. And there early in the morning, before the sun rose, people were looking in His tomb. And He told Mary, I haven't yet ascended to My Father. I haven't been accepted to Him. Don't touch me. Don't touch me, Mary. I'm going to Him and I'm coming back. And He says, and you go tell Peter and John and all the people that. You tell them that that's what's happening.

Let's go back to Matthew 28. Matthew 28 and verse 9.

Let's pick it up in verse 7 so we get the context. It says, Go quickly and tell His disciples that He's risen from the dead, and indeed He's going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold, I've told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice. So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Now, this was later in the day. This time when He encountered disciples, they embraced Him. And He didn't tell them, Don't touch me.

Because between the time He saw Mary and the time He saw these people, He had ascended to God. He had ascended into the heavens. He was accepted as the first of the first fruits. Now, you can imagine what it would have been like in heaven. Here is Jesus Christ, who allowed Himself to be born as man, gave up being God so that you and I could be reconciled to God, so you and I could have our sins forgiven, and so that eternity might be part of our future if we eat the unleavened bread of life every day the rest of our life and heed the call and follow God.

Let's turn back to Revelation 5 for a minute. Revelation 5.

In John's vision of end-time prophecies, he finds himself at the throne of God. And he sees what's going on as he's there. And as he's watching the events, he sees the scroll that's there, that no man was fit to open. In verse 7, it says, Christ came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, the sacrificed Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the sense of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, You, Christ, You, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed yourself, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood. Out of every tongue and tribe and people and nation, You have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. He made it possible. He took the scroll. He lives. And He lives in us when we follow Him that we might become who God wants us to be. And then John writes, I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, as we celebrate and are commanded to celebrate each year at Passover, or commemorate. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard, saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. There's joy in heaven over the repentance of one sinner. Can you imagine what it was like that day in heaven when Jesus Christ, who sacrificed His life, came to heaven, having accomplished His mission. He said as He was dying, it's finished. And then God resurrected Him, the first man to be resurrected. And you're probably thinking, oh, there were other people resurrected. Christ resurrected Lazarus. Elijah prayed to God and the widow's son was resurrected. It says in the Bible that when He died, the veil was split in two, earthquakes, thunders occurred, and people were raised from their graves. And people saw those people walking around. But Jesus Christ was the first man resurrected for eternal to eternal life. All those other resurrections, those people were given life again, but they were given a physical life. When Lazarus was resurrected, He died. When the widow's son was resurrected, He died. All those people that resurrected at the time of Christ's death, they died. Jesus Christ was the first one to be resurrected to eternal life. The first one. And He is our example. In Him, we have hope. It's appointed unto all men once to die. Jesus Christ died. And because He was resurrected, we have the hope of resurrection because He is our example. And if we live the way Jesus Christ lived, if we follow Him exactly the way He lived, eating of His unleavened bread, of His Word, every day, using this to be our nutrition, using this to guide us and lead us, using this as our Constitution and the thing that we do, that we follow, that we live, if we eat of this unleavened bread, He says He'll give us life as well. He said it back in John 6. Jesus Christ was the first of the first fruits. Now, when He was accepted as the first of the first fruits, the rest of the harvest could begin. It couldn't begin until He was accepted. Let's go back to John 20.

John 20, in verse 22. This is after He appeared to the apostles. We read down through verse 17. And then He appeared to the apostles. In verse 20, it says, When He had said this, peace be with you, He showed them His hands and His side, and the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. It all happened on that day. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Now the harvest of the first fruits could begin. He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Over in Luke 24. Luke 24 and verse 44. As He spoke to the disciples when He appeared to them, He said, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms concerning Me. How He fulfilled all the sacrifices. He fulfilled the sacrifice of the Passover land. He is the Passover land. And He fulfilled that little ritual that occurred in Leviticus 23. And in verse 45 it says, He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. He breathed on them and He gave them the Holy Spirit. And He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Now the rest of the harvest, or the harvest of the first fruits, could begin. Now that Christ was alive, the sacrifice Christ who did the first step for us and then expects us through these days of unleavened bread, every day put the leavening out. Every day put the unleavened bread in. Now He was alive. Now He could do with the people. He could help us do what we need to do. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. Let's read through the first few verses here in verse 15.

So Paul is recounting to them what has happened. And over in verse 12 he begins to talk about Christ. If Christ is preached that He had been raised from the dead, apparently there in Corinth there were some who said there wasn't a resurrection. If Christ is preached that He's been raised from the dead, how does some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ isn't risen. And if Christ isn't risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we've testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He didn't raise up. If in fact the dead don't rise, then Christ isn't risen. And if Christ isn't risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, if only in this physical life we're living right now, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

But now, he says, Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The first of the firstfruits. Our example. We follow Him and we know what will happen if we believe and if we eat the unleavened bread. We will die. And later on in this chapter, you know the verses very well. Where He says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

Because He lives, we have the hope of eternal life as well. He said that to the apostles in John 14 and verse 19. Because I live, and He was talking about what would happen, you will live also. Let's go back there to John 14.

Or I guess John. John 14, 19. A little while longer, he told them. And the world will see me no more. He was talking about his death. But you will see me. And they did. Because I live, you will live also. I died for your sins that you may be reconciled. I live that you may live also. Back in John 6, verses we've read previously, in this Days of Unleavened Bread and at Passover, words that were hard for the people assembled that day to hear ring true to us. Now, John 6, verse 33. Christ says, For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Verse 40. This is the will of him who sent me. Christ says that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 44. He says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. We're all here because God drew us here. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 47. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Verse 53. Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the loving Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread will live forever. The lesson of the days of unleavened bread. Repent. Eat the unleavened bread every day. Believe in Jesus Christ. Celebrate the face of this first step in God's plan. He made the first step for us when Christ died. We commemorate that every year through Passover. The next one is up to us. He's called us and he says, Eat the bread of unleavened bread of life. Get rid of the old sins. Put that out and do that every day of the rest of your life. Because the bread we eat is the bread of life. And in these days, secondary and never. Nothing I say today should anyone take from here and say that we would celebrate it because nowhere does God say celebrate that. He says, You celebrate the Passover, you celebrate the days of unleavened bread, and you remember what it means. But in these days is also life. Christ died that we may live. Christ died that we might have eternal life after our sins are forgiven. He tells us, Eat the bread of life. And he gives us the Holy Spirit when we live the life that we commit to Him.

Back in Leviticus 23.

In verse 15, after this non-commanded or non-assembly, the non-holy day, event that took place among a few of the priests there. Verse 15, it says, You shall count for yourself from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheep of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seven Sabbaths, and you'll offer a new grain offering to the Lord. From that day of the wave sheep offering, count fifty days. And that fiftieth day is the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of First Fruits. God called you and me, and everyone else who keeps His holy days, who understands the Scriptures and who eats the bread of life. We're first fruits. It started the harvest of the first fruits from the time Christ was accepted. And He came back, and He breathed His Spirit on the apostles. And from that time forward, the harvest is taking place. You can see the tie between the days of unleavened bread and the Pentecost, and what Christ did, and what this little ritual means here.

But don't ever forget the meaning of the days of unleavened bread, because if we don't do what this day signifies, we don't have to worry about the rest. We absolutely must put sin out of our lives. We absolutely must eat the unleavened bread. And we absolutely must believe in Christ and trust in Him because He is leading us. And He wants us to be first fruits. And He wants us to understand. And He wants us to be there. That's His will and the will of the Father. Be there. And don't ever forget the lessons, the true lessons in the meaning of the days of unleavened bread.